Emergency call forking and notification

• US 8,090,322 B2
• Filed: 05/21/2008
• Issued: 01/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Schultz, Paul T., Sartini, Robert A., McKee, Martin W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cumming, William D
• Application Number:
  US12/124,642
• Publication Number:
  US 20090291663A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,322 Days
• Field of Search: 455/67.11, 455/412.1, 455/433, 455/456.1, 379/142.1, 719/328
• US Class Current: 455/67.11
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/04 with alarm systems, e.g. fire, police or burglar alarm systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/04 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/465 Arrangements for simultaneously calling a number of substations until an answer is obtained
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/20 Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

A system receives subscriber configuration information, for an emergency forking/notification service, that includes criteria for initiating the forking/notification service and contact information for a recipient of the forking/notification service. The system receives an emergency call from a calling device and route the emergency call to a public safety answering point (PSAP). The system identifies the emergency call as a candidate for the emergency forking/notification service based on information associated with the calling device and the criteria for initiating the forking/notification service, and automatically initiates a forking/notification session to notify the recipient that an emergency call has been initiated from the calling device.

Claims

1. A method performed by one or more computing devices, the method comprising:

receiving, by one of the one or more computing devices, subscriber configuration information for an emergency forking/notification service, the subscriber configuration information including criteria for initiating the emergency forking/notification service and contact information for a recipient of the emergency forking/notification service;

receiving, by one of the one or more computing devices, an emergency call from a calling device;

routing, by one of the one or more computing devices, the emergency call to a public safety answering point (PSAP);

identifying, by one of the one or more computing devices, the emergency call as a candidate for the emergency forking/notification service based on information associated with the calling device and the criteria for initiating the emergency forking/notification service; and

automatically initiating, by one of the one or more computing devices, a forking/notification session to notify the recipient that the emergency call has been initiated from the calling device.

2. The method of claim 1, where the forking/notification session requests an authentication indication before notifying the recipient.

3. The method of claim 1, where automatically initiating the forking/notification session includes:

sending an audible portion of the emergency call to the recipient to allow the recipient to listen to the emergency call between the calling device and the PSAP.

4. The method of claim 1, where automatically initiating the forking/notification session includes:

identifying a location of the calling device.

5. The method of claim 4, where the forking/notification session initiates a supplementary session to query for additional information based on the location of the calling device.

6. The method of claim 1, where the forking/notification session automatically records voice data and session information for the emergency call between the calling device and the PSAP.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving supplementary emergency response information relevant to a location associated with a calling device; and

associating the supplementary emergency response information with the recorded voice data and session information for the emergency call.

8. The method of claim 1, where the criteria for initiating the forking/notification service includes one or more of a location of the calling device or a telephone number of the calling device.

9. A system, comprising:

a first non-transitory device to store subscriber criteria for initiating a service and contact information for one or more authorized recipients of the service;

a second device to receive an indication of an emergency call being placed by a calling device over a network; and

a notification server to;

automatically select an authorized recipient, of the one or more authorized recipients being based on the subscriber criteria, and

notify the selected authorized recipient that the emergency call has been initiated from the calling device.

10. The system of claim 9, where the notification server queries a device associated with the selected authorized recipient for an authentication indication before notifying the selected recipient.

11. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

a media tapping server to;

send an audio signal associated with the emergency call to the at least one or more authorized recipients to enable the at least one of the one or more authorized recipients to listen to the emergency call.

12. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

a location server to;

identify a location of the calling device.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

a supplementary session server to;

initiate a query for additional information based on the location of the calling device.

14. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

a recording device to;

record an audible conversation and data related to the emergency call.

15. The system of claim 14, where the system receives information from a supplementary server, the information being relevant to a location associated with the calling device, and associates the received information with the recorded emergency call.

16. The system of claim 9, where the subscriber criteria includes one or more of a location of the calling device or an assigned telephone number of the calling device.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable memory comprising instructions executable by a processor, the non-transitory computer-readable memory comprising:

one or more instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

store subscriber criteria to notify a recipient, where the recipient is notified of an emergency call;

receive an indication of an emergency call being initiated from a calling device;

compare information associated with the calling device with the subscriber criteria; and

notify the recipient that the emergency call has been initiated from the calling device when the information about the calling device matches the subscriber criteria.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 17, where the subscriber criteria includes at least one of a location or an assigned telephone number of the calling device.

19. A method performed by a device, the method comprising:

storing, by the non-transitory device, subscriber criteria to notify a recipient, where the recipient is notified of an emergency call, and

where the subscriber criteria includes an originating location of the emergency call;

receiving, by the non-transitory device, an indication of a particular emergency call placed from a calling device;

comparing, by the non-transitory device, a location of the calling device with the subscriber criteria; and

automatically notifying, by the non-transitory device, the recipient that the particular emergency call has been initiated from the calling device when the location of the calling device matches the subscriber criteria.